TheOpenAnalyst » Education

Australian State Blows Opportunity to Bring Linux to Education

TheOpenAnalyst — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 09:32:00 +0000

If you haven’t read the news, the Australian state of New South Wales has signed a deal to deploy 267,000 Windows netbooks into secondary schools, as part of the Australian federal government’s multi-billion dollar netbook-in-schools programme. This was a golden opportunity to explore the deployment of Linux and open source software in education. An opportunity now lost.

In reality, this wasn’t a great surprise; none of our Education authorities have ever really shown a willingness to think beyond “Planet Microsoft”. That doesn’t stop this situation being lamentable. It’s a decision that will result in lower education software opportunities for Australian students, wasted expense for Australian taxpayers and a diversion of funds from Australia’s indigenous IT industry.

Australian State Blows Opportunity to Bring Linux to Education – Khaotic Musings – conz’s Blog at ZDNet.co.uk Community

Foster plan for open source education

TheOpenAnalyst — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 08:55:00 +0000

Bill Foster (right), the physicist and Democrat who succeeded former Speaker Dennis Hastert in Congress, has what you might call a cunning open source plan.

Any federal agency spending over $10 million on scientific education should put 2% of that money into creating open source materials, posting them on the Web for students, and updating them.

Foster plan for open source education | Open Source | ZDNet.com

S’pore students get taste of mainframes, Linux

TheOpenAnalyst — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:32:00 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

SINGAPORE–Local institute of learning, Republic Polytechnic, has partnered IBM and Red Hat to groom IT professionals with expertise to meet rising adoption of open source software and mainframe virtualization.

The institute has launched a new course that provides training on IBM’s System z mainframe based on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

At a media briefing Wednesday, Eden Liew, RP’s deputy principal overseeing corporate services, said up to 150 students and 75 industry professionals are expected to be trained over the next three years.

S’pore students get taste of mainframes, Linux : News : Business – ZDNet Asia

UK’s first national open source IT project to demo soon

TheOpenAnalyst — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 05:52:00 +0000

A demonstration version of the UK’s first government-backed national open source IT project, is to go live in two weeks’ time.

The National Digital Resource Bank (NDRB) will provide content for digital learning systems to schools free of charge.

UK’s first national open source IT project to demo soon | ComputerWeekly.com

An open source textbook is more than a book

TheOpenAnalyst — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 09:09:00 +0000

The release of an “open source” physics textbook by the state of Virginia is a serious milestone.

I put the words “open source” in quotes because, while the work has a Creative Commons attribution license and was built using open source tools, its chapters are all bylined and it was done with strict peer review.

An open source textbook is more than a book | Open Source | ZDNet.com

Let’s Use Stimulus to Boost Open Source in Schools

TheOpenAnalyst — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 07:00:00 +0000

Not too long back, I shared my thoughts with you on how there seems to be a real disconnect with US schools and desktop Linux. Differences of opinion were exchanged in the comments area of the article and I gained some new insight along the way.

The point that was driven home to me the most, however, is the apparent lack of resources to make the switch to (or even merely recognize the value of) desktop Linux. Clearly there are legitimate barriers that are in place that make educating teachers, IT personnel and to a degree, even students, difficult at best.

But something has taken place recently that might help schools overcome this barrier. It’s called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Let’s Use Stimulus to Boost Open Source in Schools

Teachers Need An Open Source Education

TheOpenAnalyst — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 12:09:00 +0000

Remember back in 2008 when a teacher named “Karen” made a remark about using Linux holding her students back? The idea apparently being that students using Linux must somehow be participating in something that is illegal.

Later, apologies ensued despite new wounds on both sides of the issue being created. Seems to me that this is not just individuals in the proprietary software realm who have no idea how open source software works. Apparently the group of misinformation junkies now includes teachers as well.

Teachers Need An Open Source Education

Open Source Physics Text Book Sought by Virginia

TheOpenAnalyst — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:11:05 +0000

Secretary of Technology Aneesh Chopra and Secretary of Education Tom Morris has released a Request for Collaboration (RFC) to career and technical centers, school divisions, and institutions of higher education calling for assistance in the development and publication of an open source physics “Flexbook” for Virginia.

The Virginia Physics “Flexbook” project is a collaborative effort of the Secretaries of Education and Technology and the Department of Education that seeks to elevate the quality of physics instruction across the Commonwealth. Participating educators will create and compile supplemental materials relating to 21st century physics in an open-source format that can be used to strengthen existing physics content. The Commonwealth is partnering with CK-12 on this initiative as they will provide the free, open-source technology platform to facilitate the publication of the newly developed content as a “Flexbook” – defined simply as an adaptive, web-based set of instructional materials.

Open Source Physics Text Book Sought by Virginia | LinuxElectrons